Southwest Airlines Community

It is not government overreach. The federal law supports my sons condition and mandates accommodation. The airline overreach is what ignored federal regulation to accommodate him despite his disability.   ... View more

As a physician who works to enforce strict mask and visitation rules in the hospital, we make necessary exceptions to accommodate infants and individuals with intellectual disabilities who are incapable of keeping a mask on, in order to do our best to provide the same standard of care to all, regardless of disabilities. The CDC federal mask order “exempts the following categories of persons. ... A person with a disability who cannot wear a mask, or cannot wear a mask because of the disability, as defined by the Americans with Disability Act (42 U.S.C. 12101 et. Seq.) As the father of a son with Angelman Syndrome and severe neuro developmental delay who is unable to keep a mask on (but who has tolerated a full head cover hood with plastic face shield), I was disappointed to be detained with my vaccinated and face-shielded son on the walkway into SWA 3117 on February 27, on our way to see his grandfather, (whose new diagnosis of widely metastatic small cell lung cancer put him suddenly in home hospice, with family flying to San Antonio from all points to see him, possibly for the last time), as we saw several children and adults board with masks below their noses, and were told there are no exceptions at Southwest for individuals with disabilities, and that we could not board the plane. The situation caused uncomfortable drama as our detention on the walkway caused my sons agitation to escalate, caused disruption to other passengers, and prompted a tearful, compassionate effort by one SWA customer service agent to look for ways to accommodate my son by keeping adjacent rows clear on a plane that was under filled. Rachel Di Fiore, identifying herself as the highest authority on the matter at SWA, arrived to stop the effort and to tell us we had to leave, and that Southwest does not make exceptions for individuals with disabilities, that there is no higher authority than her to appeal to. I am writing to make you aware of a preventable loud scene that cast Southwest in a bad light to the public, but also to question Southwest’s rigidity around individuals with intellectual disabilities. The unfortunate scene could have been prevented if Southwest had been transparent in stating that they do not honor exemptions for individuals with disabilities, which would have helped us choose a different airline at the outset. At least 2 other airlines specifically state that they do honor exemptions to the mask mandate for individuals with disabilities, and their websites include a link to help understand who qualifies. I ask as a physician and as a father of a son with disabilities that you reconsider your company’s unwillingness to accommodate individuals with disabilities, or, if that is unchangeable policy, to at least state that lack of accommodation clearly at the time of ticketing, so customers can be spared the kind of preventable, disruptive and emotional public scene that your unexpected rigidity produced.  -disappointed Southwest customer ... View more